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Becoming Noble

August 16, 2007

A good number of people including many close friends and family really don’t understand the magic behind what we do.  They put us in the category of just another civic organization that hawks tickets to locals trying to raise money for one charity or another.  Members and recipients of our Noble Deeds know much better. 

My wife’s Mother Alice lives in New York.  One morning she gave me a call to tell me she had just heard an interview about our organization on a local to talk show.  I started to investigate knowing the radio program must be referring to another charity group using the Robin Hood name. 

It did not take much investigation to learn about this mammoth organization that raised millions of dollars in New York to help out with all sorts of programs for residents of New York.  They claimed the Kennedy’s and Sting as members.  I received a brochure and was quite impressed with all the things that they did.

Many years later when the notion struck me to take RHVB to the next level, I once again remembered the group in NY.  I decided to send them an e-mail letting them know that my plan was to expand our little organization in Virginia Beach.  I did this as a courtesy to insure there would not be any roadblocks or conflicts of interest.

The conflict…

 I received a call from their communication director informing me that our group was violating their Trademark.  It would seem that The Robin Hood foundation had a trademark on the name Robin Hood used in a charity.  Very Impressive!  She also let me know any plans or expansion of RHVB would be a trademark infringement.  WOW, what a difference a day makes.

I called our attorney Brad who works for a large local law firm located in Virginia Beach.  Brad was a Robin Hood member and offered to investigate their trademark and work with me to resolve the current scenario. 

The members upon learning of our legal opportunity for progress had all kinds of helpful solutions.  Most of all to fight this group of New Yorkers and show them who they were dealing with.  After Brad’s investigation and talking with the law firm that represents the Foundation we learned that we were not in an enviable position to make a lot of fuss.

The Robin Hood foundation drafted an agreement to allow us to continue to use the name Robin Hood if we agreed to a long laundry list of stipulations relating to our website, brochures, and stationary proclaiming that we were not affiliated with the NY group.  It was a short term solution that offered us a way to move forward.

It wasn’t long before I received a non compliance letter from their attorneys asking for us to jump through hoops.  At that time I knew our future did not include the Robin Hood name and decided to come up with a new direction. 

I took some time to consider what our next step should be.  I did not want a name that ended in Virginia Beach (RHVB).  My vision for this group is to allow other places to start chapters.  The name would also need to withstand any challenges from trademark infringements, why do that twice!

One day the thought occurred to me about our Noble Deed Dinner.  The Robin Hoods performed Noble Deeds.  We could simply say that the Robin Hoods grew up and became Noblemen. 

I started on a path of due diligence and asked our attorney to do some research on the name and find out whether or not it was something we could move forward with.  I made phone calls and met with key members to discuss the changes. 

I ran into Andy Vakos and decided to try the new name out on him.  His face contorted and he simply replied “great now we can all be Shriners.”   Andy owns a large hotel on the oceanfront and every year in Virginia Beach a large contingency of Shriners hold one of their annual conventions here.  There are large parades and raucous gatherings of older men and their wives.  Signs all over Virginia Beach claim Welcome Nobles!  I had not even considered the reference and Andy’s dismay caught me by surprise. 

My wife was actually the lynch pin for the name change.  I am famous for running everything by my friends and completely forgetting about asking my wife.  I also forget how important her opinion is to just about everything I do.  I have found over the many years that we have been married she has a knack for getting things right, a very intuitive lady.  I shared with Marge my direction for the name change and she immediately embraced it.  For what ever reason she spoke to my core and instantly I knew it was the right direction.

I introduced the new name to the group at our first meeting in 2006.  It was accepted and adopted.  Understanding it would be a process over time…not a day goes by that I don’t correct a member from using the old Robin Hood moniker. 

I was attending a conference of nonprofits about a year later that was sponsored by Volunteer Hampton Roads.  One of the key note speakers was holding a seminar about building boards, recognizing contributors and creating meaningful mission statements. 

Kay (speaker) inquired to the audience as to what each of us did.  What type of nonprofit entity did we represent?  I would say there were 75 – 100 participants in the room as she clicked off the normal categories.  How many of you are from health care?  How many from child welfare? And so on.  Many participants raised their hand or shouted out their corporate entity as Kay read down the list.  There were two of us in the room that were missed.

One gentleman in the room that was not mentioned stated that he represented the opera and everybody acknowledged the forgotten category.  The attention was then focused on me.   What do you do sir, she asked?  I perform Noble Deeds and then added “What else would Noblemen do but Noble Deeds”   Kay was taken back a bit evidently she had not had an audience participant that had responded that way in the past.  Before she could respond another lady raised her hand in the room and stated that she received a Noble Deed and then another and another and another.  It could not have been more perfect.  Kay inquired as to whether or not I brought my own fan club to the conference.  I knew at that time that the name was Perfect!